Improvement in the manufacture of oxide of zinc



room.

I UNITED STATES JAMES JENKINS, OF ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY, AND JAMES MOMAPION, OF

LOWER SAUOON TOWNSHIP, NORTHAMPTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF OXIDE 0F ZINC.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 43,58?, dated July 19, 1864.

.To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JAMES JENKINs, of the city of Elizabeth, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, and J AMESMOMA- HON, of the township of Lower Sau con, in the county-of Northampton and State of Pennsyl- Vania, have invented an Improvement in the Apparatus for the Manufacture of the Oxide of Zinc; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

The construction of an apparatus for the manufacture of the oxide of zinc consists of furnaces in which the ore, in combination with fuel, is burned, an exhausting apparatus, (generally fan-blowers,) by which the products of combustion from the furnaces are controlled,

anda collecting or bag room, which at the same time affords a place of deposit for the oxidized zinc and an escape for the gases. 4

The exhaust-blower, which turns at a high rate of speed, is located at a point between the furnaces and the bag-room. The" products of the combustion are drawn to it from the furnaces, and, secondly, forced onward by its operation to the bag-room. The bag-room is provided with tubesrunning horizontally, secured to the highest point in the room, and from which others (being attached) hang vertically, extending to the lowest point in the The horizontal tubes are sometimes made of sheet-iron, occasionally of woolen or cotton fabric, while the vertical tubes or bags are made of the latter material, involving the employment of about fifteen hundred yards of bag-surface for each ton of oxide produced in twenty-four hours. To produce ten tons of oxide daily, fifteen thousand yards of bag-surface must be constantly employed.

The manufacturing operation is as follows: The furnaces, being in blast, are at a bright-red heat. The products from the combustion of the coal and ore are drawn rapidly away by the exhaust-blower, and arrive at that point in a highly-heated condition. They are thence forced by the blower onward to the bag-room, where the cotton or woolen cloth furnishes the outlet for the heated air and gases, while the metallic element in its course then becomes completely oxidized, and is deposited in the bottom of the vertical bags.

It will be understood that the gases reach the bag-room in a highly-heated condition, while from their destructive character and the pressure under which they are driven there a the fabric of which the bags are made undergoes a constant decay and requires constant renewal. This supply of bag-room fabrics in this manufacture is a principal item in the repairs, &c. and the improvem entherein claimed has also reference to the reduction of this expense, a diminution of the risk of loss by fire,

(to which the present method is constantly li-" able,) and the ability to produce a given quantity of oxide in a smaller compass than is made necessary by the present construction when cotton or woolen cloths are employed.

ment of woolen or cotton fabrics for the pur poses to which they are applied; but 7 What we do claim, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, ise The use and employment of wire-cloth as a substitute, in whole or in part, 'for the woolen or cotton cloths now employed in the manufacture of the oxide of zinc, substantially as herein described, and for the purposes herein named.

JAMES JENKINS. JAMES McMAHON.

NVitnesses to James Jenkins:

JOHN 0. MAGIL,

THOMAS B. MANN. Witnesses to James McMahon: CHARLES BRODHEAD,

A. G..BRODHEAD. 

